Speed: Point was like victory...

Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed has admitted that his emotional outburst at losing eighth place in the Australian Grand Prix was heightened because of the rush he had from crossing the line in the points.

The Australian Grand Prix was incident-packed from before the start to after the finish, with Speed taking the chequered flag eighth on the road and believing that he had secured not only his own first F1 point, but also the team's first.

However, as the Red Bull-backed pair entered the final corner, they encountered a massive cloud of smoke from the blown engine of Jenson Button's Honda, immediately elevating the battle to one for a valuable point.

"At the time we were ninth, I was just thinking 'get a top ten, stay in front of David [Coulthard], just be smooth'," he revealed, "I came out of the corner with David right behind me, and I saw a big cloud of smoke. I kept going flat out - there was oil on the track, and I got into a big slide, but I was able to finish the race ahead of David. And then the team told me I was eighth!"

The Toro Rosso crew and Speed were equally ecstatic about the achievement, believing that they had tied Coulthard's Red Bull Racing crew in the constructors' championship standings.

"It was a dream come true," Speed admitted, "The most emotional experience of my life was when I came into the impound area and my whole team was on the fence cheering like I won the race. The whole team went crazy. It was like a victory. I worked very hard to get into that position."

But then came the agony of defeat, as race officials determined that Speed had passed Coulthard when the yellow flags were waving over Toro Rosso team-mate Tonio Liuzzi's accident. They levied a 25-second penalty against the American's overall race time, dropping him, initially, to ninth behind Coulthard and then, when the revised results came out, to eleventh on the road, taking into account the gaps between him and the leading lapped runners.

To make matters worse, the stewards also fined Speed $5000 for using abusive language toward another competitor - namely DC - during the post-race hearing.

"It was a surreal day, to say the least," Speed sighed, "but this post-race incident will only increase our drive and focus to be serious point contenders during the remainder of the season."